Asia Cup 2022: India-Pakistan set to face-off in continental event starting from August

Arch-rivals India and Pakistan are set to revive their rivalry as the Asia Cup 2022 is slated to get underway from August 27 in Sri Lanka. It will be a T20I competition, running from August 27 to September 11, with the entire schedule yet to be disclosed. The dates and the host were announced after an AGM that took place between the member countries on Saturday.

“The Asia Cup 2022 (T20 Format) will be held in Sri Lanka from 27 August – 11 September later this year. The Qualifiers for the same will be played 20 August 2022 onwards,” the ACC tweeted after its AGM.

Hosts Sri Lanka, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh will take part in the tournament. Apart from them, the rest Asian side will be decided after a qualifying tournament, which will take place from August 20.

The Asia Cup is usually played between ODI and T20I formats. It was last played in 2018 and India were crowed the champions. The pandemic, however, forced the postponement of the tournament in 2020 with Sri Lanka supposed to host the 2020 edition but Covid-19 postponed the event to 2021 before finally being shifted to 2022.

Pakistan were originally supposed to host the 2022 Asia Cup.

READ MORE: India vs Sri Lanka: ‘I knew I had to be attacking’ – Shreyas Iyer

Asia Cup 2022: Sixth-team to be decided via qualifier

Meanwhile, the sixth team to join the tournament will be among — UAE, Kuwait, Singapore or Hong Kong — and will be decided via qualifier as each side remain in contention after finishing either first or second in the ACC regional events in 2020.

The upcoming Asia Cup will be the 15th edition after having made its inception in 1984. Defending champions India have been the most successful team in the continental event while Sri Lanka have won the competition five times as well.

Meanwhile, at the AGM, it was unanimously decided that the BCCI secretary Jay Shah will continue as the Asian Cricket Council’s (ACC) President till 2024. Pankaj Khimji of Oman Cricket Board was appointed the vice-president of ACC and Mahinda Vallipuram of Malaysia Cricket Association was named the chairman of the developing committee as well.

“We remain committed towards ensuring the all-round development of cricket in the region, especially carrying forward the pioneering work in women’s cricket and the multiple grassroot tournaments the ACC conducts in the region around the year,” Shah said at the AGM.

“The pandemic hopefully is behind us and I am keen that we adapt, innovate and help the ACC grow from strength to strength from hereon,” he added.